Russia is going ahead with the weekend auction of the main asset of crippled oil giant Yukos despite a US court order barring the sale.
The state-controlled gas giant Gazprom said it had paid a deposit to register as a bidder at Sunday's auction of Yuganskneftegaz, which pumps 60% of Yukos oil. Interested parties had until Saturday to pay the $1.77 billion deposit.
Late on Thursday, a US bankruptcy court judge in Houston, Texas, had ordered a 10-day halt to the planned sale of Yuganskneftegaz, but Russia dismissed the move as invalid.
The order by Judge Letitia Clark barred Gazpromneft, a subsidiary of Gazprom widely expected to win control of Yugansk, from taking part in Sunday's auction.
But officials in Moscow organising the sale and the foreign ministry rejected the ruling, arguing that the US court had no jurisidiction in Russia.
But reports said the US court order had provoked nervousness among a consortium of Western banks due to lend Gazprom €10 billion for the bid, causing them to suspend approval of the credit.
Analysts believe the Western banks have no choice but to abandon the planned credit because issuing it could lead to a freeze on their US assets. Gapzrom is less exposed to US litigation because it has few business interests in the US.
